Hon House Chairperson, the Portfolio Committee on Social Development conducted an oversight visit to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development and the national entities of the national Department of Social Development.
We also visited the children's courts in Umlazi and Chatsworth, and that is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. We also had engagements with the Coalition of Nongovernmental Organisations and Lifeline.
The Operation Sukuma Sakhe of the provincial government greatly assisted the provincial Department of Social Development with achieving the service delivery targets in accordance with the national outcomes and also the priorities, as set out in the state of the nation address of 2012. It is worth noting that operation Sukuma Sakhe is a living testament of what success the different spheres of government can achieve if they pool their resources.
We visited some of the provincial institutions and projects. We visited Lungisisa Indlela Village. It provides holistic, residential care to vulnerable children.
The village can best be described as a cluster foster-care institution. Foster-care mothers take care of orphans and vulnerable children in fully equipped homes in the village. We also visited the Aryan Benevolent Home in Chatsworth, where we found that the absence of the regulations governing the treatment of older persons, who are frail and need specialised care, was indeed a great challenge.
When we visited the Umlazi and Chatsworth courts the magistrates told us that there is an increase in drug abuse among under age children. This is obviously a great concern to the committee.
The children's court facilities in Umlazi were in an excellent condition and the committee was satisfied. At the Chatsworth court, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development needs to look at its environment in terms of space.
The meeting with the KwaZulu-Natal Welfare, Social Services and Development Forum was a huge success. It was very interesting as they represent all the community-based organisations and the NGOs in the province. Meeting with the forum gave us an insight into its work.
When we visited the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, one of the glaring issues that it raised with us was the issue of cross-border applications where nationals from Mozambique and Swaziland apply for grants in South Africa. Here we want to recommend that the Department of Home Affairs, SADF, SAPS and Sassa must ensure that citizenship is verified and that documented refugees have access to social assistance.
We also visited the Newport project, which is the National Development Agency, NDA, project in Pietermaritzburg. This project collects, packages and sells vegetables on behalf of emerging farmers. What is gratifying is that emerging farmers actually had a market to sell their goods to and that they are making money.
When we visited the Newlands Substance Abuse Treatment Centre we found that it was in a poor state. It is also next to an informal settlement. There were issues in terms of safety and the general condition of the building. It is a building that was built in the 80s by the then House of the Representatives and it is deteriorating.
What we can say after our visit is that the national Minister and the MEC for Social Development in the province did meet the NGO sectors - the same forum we met. They did go to the Newlands Substance Abuse Treatment Centre and they take the work of the committee serious.
They take the challenges and the concerns that the committee had very seriously. Therefore, what we can say to the House is that the Newlands Substance Abuse Treatment Centre is being renovated as we are speaking. There is a lot of work that has been done. There has been interaction with the NGO's forum to look at the challenges and to tackle the concerns.
In September last year, when the committee was in Durban, we got feedback from Sassa on the cross-border applications and, indeed, there is progress in that regard. Our resident member of the portfolio committee, hon Bhoola, accompanied the national Minister and the MEC when they visited the institutions that we had visited.
With regard to child-headed households that we also visited, it was an eye- opener for us to see how young children are taking on the responsibilities of heading households. But they are making great strides. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Hon House Chair, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.
Before I go, I have to go back to the 10th Order. The hon Chief Whip of the Majority Party wants to review the motion he made. He said "noted", when in fact it is supposed to be "referred to" the Constitutional Review Committee. Can you do that?